Anita Bean
Serves: 4
Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 20 mins
Ingredients:
300 g (11 oz) new potatoes, peeled and cut into medium slices
150 g (5 oz) green beans, halved
200 g (7 oz) frozen peas
200 g (7 oz) baby spinach
1 tbsp light olive or rapeseed oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
3 sprigs of thyme, leaves picked, or ½ tsp dried 2 handfuls of flat-leaf parsley, chopped
8 large eggs
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Crusty wholegrain bread and a tomato salad, to serve
Veg Portions / Serving: 2
Recipe from Vegetarian Meals in 30 Minutes by Anita Bean
This nutritious combination of eggs, potato and vegetables contains plenty of carbohydrates, protein and healthy fats, making it an ideal pre-workout meal. It provides sustained energy so will fuel the toughest of workouts and keep hunger at bay. Adding spinach and peas gives a vibrant twist as well as extra fibre and phytonutrients to fuel your good gut microbes. It’s also rich in iron, which is needed for making haemoglobin, the oxygen-carrying protein component in your red blood cells.
Method:
Cook the potatoes in a large steamer or pan of boiling water for 6 minutes or until tender. Add the green beans, peas and spinach for the last 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside.
Meanwhile, heat the oil in an ovenproof frying pan over a medium-low heat. Add the onion and fry for 3 minutes or until softened. Add the garlic, thyme, salt and pepper, mix well and cook for a further 1 minute. Add the potato-vegetable mixture plus the parsley.
Preheat the grill to medium.
In a large bowl, beat the eggs, then add to the pan. Swirl the pan and cook over a gentle heat for 4–5 minutes until the mixture starts to set. Transfer to the grill and cook for 2–3 minutes or until the top of the top of the tortilla is golden and the middle no longer runny. Slide onto a board and serve with crusty bread and a tomato salad.
Engaging Kids
Kids who engage regularly with veg through veg-themed activities, such as arts and crafts, sensory experiences, growing and cooking are shown to be more likely to eat the veg they engage with. Encouraging kids to engage and play with veg is the handy first step to them developing a good relationship with veg and life-long healthy eating.
Kids in the kitchen
Older kids who are careful and confident with a pan on a stove can help you with the cooking of the tortilla. For younger ones, help them crack and beat the eggs (use an empty eggshell to remove any stray pieces that end up in the eggs before beating). Slice some tomatoes for the side salad and let little ones arrange them on a plate and help them drizzle over a little olive oil and vinegar before serving.
Activities
While getting kids to interact with veggies for real and using their senses to explore them is best, encouraging hands off activities like arts & crafts, puzzles & games or at-home science experiments can be a great start, particularly for those who are fussier eaters or struggle with anything too sensory. Use these veg-themed activities as a stepping stone to interacting with the veg themselves. We have loads of crafty downloads here, puzzles here, and quirky science with veg here.
Sensory
Once you feel your child is ready to engage a little more, you can show them how to explore the veg you have on hand with their senses, coming up with playful silly descriptions of how a veg smells, feels, looks, sounds and perhaps even tastes. Find ideas, videos and some simple sensory education session ideas to get you started here.
Serving
The moments before food is offered can be a perfect opportunity for engagement that can help make it more likely a child will eat it! Giving children a sense of ownership in the meal can make a big difference to their feelings going into it and the pride they take in it. You know your child best, but if you aren’t sure where to start, we have some fun and simple ideas for easy roles you can give them in the serving process over here.
Anita Bean
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